This invention relates to a rinse nozzle for more uniform cleaning of the inside of aircraft waste tanks and the like.
Large leak-free tanks are carried on passenger aircraft for receiving and holding human waste products during passenger flights. At the end of each flight, the tanks are drained of the waste products and, to the extent possible, rinsed or washed to remove any products which may be clinging or sticking to the inside walls of the tanks. This is currently done by mounting fixed position spray nozzles, having no moving parts, inside the tanks and then supplying water or cleaning solution to the nozzles to be sprayed against the inside walls of the tanks. Such nozzles have typically been bulky, because of the need for numerous spray heads to deliver the cleaning solution in different directions, and oftentimes develop unequally dispersed spray patterns.
The problem of unequal spraying and thus nonuniform cleaning by currently used nozzles is exacerbated when parts of such nozzles become clogged with waste products splashing against the nozzles. Because the nozzles are fixed in position, various exit points may become clogged to prevent the flow therethrough of cleaning solution. Of course, this results in even less uniform cleaning so that some waste products remain in the tank. In turn, with the next use of the tanks, additional waste products cling to the old unremoved products so that a buildup of waste products occurs in the tank, and this cannot be effectively removed or cleaned with existing fixed-position nozzles. The only solution to this problem then is to remove the waste tank for special cleaning which, of course, is very time-consuming and costly.